Chapter 45
Sumac awoke to the familiar tickle of a dragon sitting on his ribs and the scent of smoke threatening to make him sneeze. Vision blurred, he glanced around and suffered a moment of panic while he tried to remember where he set his glasses. It was one of his persistent fears, a little dose of anxiety that always troubled him upon waking in a strange place, a trouble that a pony with good eyes wouldn’t know. As sensation returned to his body, he recalled that he had dreamed of dragons—good dragons, virtuous and noble.
Dragons quite unlike the one sitting on him that was licking her eyeballs.
What time was it? There seemed no way of knowing. What if it was morning and he had slept through the night? Panic, like Boomer’s tiny claws, made his skin prickle. Pebble was still asleep, a chocolate lump beside him. Still half-awake, he took a moment to think about his friend, his boon companion. Ponies that were that dark of a shade of brown were rare, but even among them, Pebble was distinct—unique. Why, she was so rich and dark that she almost seemed… edible. She wasn’t milk chocolate with its cloying sweetness, no; she was dark chocolate, the kind that held more than a hint of bitterness. But in that bitterness was a lesson and a promise of something good, something worthwhile. The bitterness came with subtlety, nuance, something so very grown up and satisfying.
Waking up to wax philosophical was the best way to wake up.
What strange and unknowable beast was Pebble Pie; she was an endearing enigma, a perplexing paradox, a contradictory companion. In trying to understand her, Sumac was forced to be a better pony, because Pebble was just so… weird. It wasn’t because she was a filly, no, even though that had a lot to do with it. Maud too, was weird, which was reassuring and distressing in equal measure. Tarnished Teapot existed and he too, liked weird ponies, which was reassuring for Sumac. However, this was distressing too, because Sumac felt that his own treasured uniqueness was lessened by the existence of Mister Teapot. It was hard to be special and stand out when there was another pony that shared your interests.
For Sumac, it was a worthwhile problem to have.
He was a pony stuck in his own introverted headspace, little Sumac; as such, the thoughts, wills, and motivations of other ponies posed a great mystery to him. Why did they do what they did? What went on inside of their heads? But Pebble… she stood out. So many things she did just didn’t make sense and as such, there was an element, an air of intrigue that persisted around her. For Sumac, who had to know the how and why of things, Pebble was maddening. But as Lemon Hearts had to said him, it was good to try and think about the way of others.
He yawned, and when he did so, Boomer began tapping out a tune upon his teeth with her tiny claws. She was in a mood, Boomer, and Sumac tried to focus upon her without his glasses only to have yet another profound understanding. Wearing glasses made one blind. Somehow, he had managed without glasses, with a lot of squinting and straining. But now, try as he might, squint as he might, trying to get his eyes to focus was almost impossible. His glasses had left him dependent upon them to see. Such was the way of things, he supposed.
Boomer too, posed an interesting mystery to Sumac: she was an intelligence that existed in a body entirely unlike his own and her thinking—however similar—was utterly alien. She was a thinking, feeling creature with wants, needs, and motivations… just like he was. But she wasn’t like him at all. She didn’t look like him and Sumac had a faint glimmer of understanding of what was a greater problem. Things that were different were to be mistrusted and kept away. That was simply the way of things, from what Sumac had gathered in his travels.
Dragons, zebras, donkeys, burros, griffons—all different—but also thinking creatures.
How troubling it was to reject thoughts because they came from a mind housed in a different body. Thoughts were thoughts and as such should be accepted on their own merit, not judged by the body from which those thoughts had originated. Taking advantage of this quiet, peaceful moment that was so conducive to introverted thinking, Sumac decided that he would spend more time focusing upon the idea and less time on the body that voiced them. It would be a conscious effort, no doubt, but a worthwhile goal.
Soon. Why was it always soon and never now? Soon, Princess Celestia would lower the sun in a grand ceremony and it was said that she would surrender to the night. Was this symbolic? Sumac had questions and he thought about asking them, but everypony around him was just too frazzled. Why surrender? Why couldn’t Princess Celestia and Princess Luna share the night together? The sun was technically a star, albeit a tiny one that was magically created, a miniature nuclear furnace, a miasma of incandescent plasma held together through Princess Celestia’s will, so it was said.
Speaking of Princess Celestia…
The grand alabaster behemoth entered the room, almost prancing in fine form, her eyes merry, twinkling with joy. Sumac, sitting on a comfortable couch, had to tilt his head back a bit to look up at her while she looked down at him. Why was she looking down at him? There was something about her, something that could only be described as mischievous. For the first time, Sumac noticed that the entire room had gone silent. Flurry was no longer babbling at Sleet and Limestone.
“You and I need to have a private chat,” Princess Celestia said.
“We do?”
She nodded. “We do.”
“What about?” Sumac asked while the first pangs of alarm took him over.
“Private stuff.”
“What kind of private stuff?” Sumac felt the first knot in his stomach and his frogs had a sweaty tingle about them.
“Sorcerer stuff… and that is all I will say in front of the others.”
“Oh.” Sumac gulped. Being a sorcerer was hard. Through no fault of his own, his life now had extraordinary difficulty. “Sorcerer stuff. I thought I made it clear, I’m not joining the guard. I want to be a wacky wizard that can’t remember anything, a crackpot inventor that constantly gets exploded into hairy bits, and maybe a mortician. But I plan to keep my options open. No guard duties though.”
Sleet began snickering and the left corner of Princess Celestia’s mouth tugged upwards into a fine smirk. The big white mare shook, the whole of her body jiggled in some weird way, and it took Sumac several long seconds to realise that she was fighting to hold back her laughter. Perhaps it was unprincessly to laugh during formal functions or talking about sorcerer stuff. Which meant that he now had to try harder to make her laugh.
“Come away with me, Sumac, so that we might talk.”
Whatever mirth Princess Celestia had was now gone and she had an entirely different demeanour, one that Sumac wasn’t comfortable with. She was pacing, perhaps collecting her thoughts, and he was sitting in a paisley printed chair that had the sneezy smell of perfume. A mailbag sat on the floor nearby, from which letters had spilled out of. The desk, an austere, plain looking thing, was covered in clutter. On the desk were pictures, several of them. Twilight Sparkle could be seen; she was a tiny filly sitting in a bathtub and appeared to be covered in ink.
Accidents happened.
“Some discussion has taken place,” Princess Celestia said.
Sumac could hear the strain in her voice and his ears pricked.
“Recently, there was some fallout about keeping secrets,” the big mare continued while she came to an abrupt halt. “With all of that in mind, it makes what I must ask of you quite difficult, Sumac. I have decided to trust you with a very important secret. As I said, there was some discussion and the use of magic to compel you to keep a secret was brought up as an option. I rejected this outright… and I was accused of making an emotional decision rather than a rational one. Sumac…”
The colt found himself basking in Princess Celestia’s summery stare.
“I want to believe that you can be trusted, Sumac. When I approached you some time ago, when you and Trixie still lived in her wagon, your integrity impressed me. I tried to get you to come away with me and you refused me. You showed yourself as being rather clever… for a five-year-old.”
“I thought we were going to talk about sorcerer stuff.”
“We are.”
Though confused, bewildered even, Sumac went along with it. “Oh.”
“Are you the trustworthy pony that I believe you to be, Sumac Apple?”
To this, he did not respond right away. She had used his last name… Apple. The use of his surname had dire implications. Was this about honesty? Maybe. Probably. In some way. He studied her face, trying to read it, but it might as well have been an alabaster mask at the moment. Stone held more emotion than the princess did and even her eyes shared nothing.
“I try to be trustworthy,” he said, hesitating even as he spoke, “but there is the matter that I am five. If this is something important, then you should ask yourself, Princess Celestia, ‘can I trust a five-year-old?’ I don’t want to get in trouble for accidentally messing up.”
“You have so much in common with Twilight…” Princess Celestia’s words were wistful and her eyes grew distant. “You can always spot the well-read ponies. Big vocabularies. Eloquent words. You and Trixie might have been paupers, but there were always books for fun and entertainment, right?”
Taken off-guard, Sumac made a faint, weak nod.
“In my own experience, you can discern the ponies that read a lot of books versus those who watch a lot of movies. It’s the vocabularies, you see. Movies use a limited vocabulary to appeal to those who do not read or might have violent allergies to literacy.”
The unexpected joke caused a broad grin to bust out on Sumac’s face.
Princess Celestia too, grinned, a warm, sincere sight.
“When Trixie was just a little tyke about your age, she showed signs of having possible allergies to literacy… but that was her home life. Certain pressures made it difficult, if not impossible to study. Once she was in school and away from home, she blossomed a bit. But I digress.”
“This is a pretty classic grift,” Sumac said to the big mare and he delighted in how her eyes went wide. “You’re trying to establish familiarity with me for the sake of a confidence trick. This is a con job. It’s pretty good, but you can do better, I think. You’re taking a soft approach because you have feelings. Never let feelings get in the way of a grift.”
“Sumac Apple… there are moments when I forget your origins… and then I get a reminder… like a slap in the face. The grift is strong with you. If little Lemon Hearts wasn’t around, I’d be worried.” She paused, shook her head, and then stared off at the desk. “I take that back… I’m still worried, but I am also cautiously optimistic that I can trust you, you adorable little grifter.”
With a slow turn of her head, Princess Celestia’s gaze was reasserted upon Sumac and her eyes blazed like her sun. She was every bit as terrifying as she was beautiful, and the colt could feel his stomach doing flip-flops while he was scrutinised beneath her burning stare. The two ponies stared at one another, sizing one another up, trying to read one another. Sumac, not knowing what else to do, fell back upon being charming, as it was his best possible natural defense.
“You said I have the grift…”
“You do,” Sumac.”
“I am a sorcerer.”
“You are, Sumac.”
“But I only have a cutie mark for one of them.”
“This is true, Sumac.”
“How’s that work?”
The big mare sighed, the tired sigh of a patient schoolmarm. “Sumac… did you… did you just turn this grift around on me?”
Sumac conjured up as much innocence as he could muster, widened his eyes, and allowed his ears to fold back in the most submissive way possible. “If you have to ask…”
“You crafty little rapscallion.” Princess Celestia’s lips stiffened, her eyes narrowed, and her ears pricked forwards, almost aggressively so. “In response to your question, ponies have major and minor talents that manifest. Some are inherited, while others come with the cutie mark. For unicorns, this becomes even more complicated, because unicorns deal with spheres of magic and elemental alignments. You, Sumac Apple, have a special talent for sorcery. This is the talent that defines your existence. It is what makes you special and unique. As a unicorn, you are electrically aligned—which affects your personality and temperament in ways we don’t fully understand just yet. Your specialised sphere of magic just so happens to be grift. A great misfortune, really. Does this help you make sense of things?”
Sumac decided that it did. It gave him a lot to think about and he offered up a polite nod. “It does, thank you. Since you didn’t talk down to me like I was a stupid foal, I’ll keep your secret. Whatever it is. I can be trusted. I hope.”
Lowering her head, bowing her proud neck, Princess Celestia tried to get eye-level with Sumac. She came forward, slow, reassuring, in the least threatening manner possible for a creature so big. A wicker escaped, a pleasant rumble, and her gaze grew ever-gentle. Sumac found himself adoring her—it was impossible not to do so—and he was just clever enough to wonder if he had a choice.
“My witty little sorcerer,” Princess Celestia began, her tone one of maternal kindness. “That magic sense of yours concerns me and quite a few others. When the sun comes down and the moon rises, you might notice some peculiarities about the magic and its source, little Sumac. Twinkleshine was smart enough to raise this concern. She’s not the smartest little pony, Twinkleshine, not by a longshot, but her cunning is second to none. You would be wise to learn from her, little Sumac.”
Something about the air around Sumac changed and he gulped when his mouth went dry. Something big was about to be said, something important. Princess Celestia didn’t strike him as the type to go through all of this trouble just to keep a piddling little secret, which meant that something major was about to be revealed, perhaps something spectacular.
“Little Sumac, you might notice that most of the magic that moves both the sun and moon comes from me. Luna’s magic is weak right now, for reasons that I shall not go into—but suffice it to say that there are other priorities that she must pour her magic into. This is something that you mustn’t speak about or discuss. This is a well-kept and closely guarded secret. We can’t let it be known that Luna suffers from weakness.”
“Wait…” Sumac drew in a deep breath, straightened his spectacles, and raised his left forehoof. “If this is a secret, how did Twinkleshine know to warn you about it? I mean, how did she know about this problem in the first place so that she might warn you?”
The big white mare clucked her tongue several times and her narrowed eyes focused upon the unicorn colt. “I am forced to wonder, little Sumac… is it your raw intelligence that causes you to be so perceptive or is it the grift? It troubles me that I cannot be sure. I’ve tried to discern it, but your grift magic doesn’t like being investigated. It actively works to defend itself from outside intrusion.”
“That didn’t answer my question,” he said, being as flippant as he dared.
“My adorable little rogue… Twinkleshine is a member of Twilight’s innermost circle. She is entrusted with secrets—”
“And my protection.”
“Yes, and your protection. Make no mistake though, you’re not just some assignment for Twinkleshine. She loves you a great deal. That she is assigned to protect you and is tasked to recover you in the unlikely happening of another… event… is just happy circumstance. Let not your mind be troubled, my little scoundrel. Twinkleshine keeps many secrets.”
“Huh.” Sumac lowered his forehoof and allowed it to come to rest upon the cushion he sat on.
“This particular secret was being discussed for security reasons and Twinkleshine just found out. Magical defenses are being crafted even as we speak to try and prevent others from discovering this classified bit of knowledge. We might be able to fool most unicorns who will sense this event, but with you being a sorcerer, odds are you’ll be able to feel everything going on. Twilight is certain that she will be able to shield this knowledge from most outsiders, using Trixie’s illusion, of course.”
“I could sense the changelings in Ponyville…” Sumac’s eyes began to water and he blinked to staunch the flow of tears. “But I didn’t know it at the time. I mean, I knew something was there. For weeks I felt it. My magic sense kept getting overloaded and it made me sick and gave me headaches.”
Princess Celestia squared her withers while her jaw firmed and she studied Sumac with a hard, but also concerned expression. “I find it amazing that you could sense the non-detection magic itself… even Wardens have trouble sniffing that out. The very fact that you can sense it is mind-blowing, because non-detection magic is aptly named. Sort of similar to your grift magic resisting attempts to learn more about it. I must confess, Sumac Apple, there are times when I wish I could somehow change your mind and get you to enlist. Forget about your sorcerer powers… just your magic sense alone is a rare treasure. Every sorcerer has this gift, but yours, from what past accounts I’m familiar with, is extraordinary.”
“It doesn’t seem so special,” he replied, shaking his head while the first tear fell. “It’s more annoying than anything. Sometimes it’s hard to be around unicorns. I can’t control what it does to me.”
“Sumac… if you keep this secret for me… I will find time in my busy schedule to give you lessons on attuning and controlling your magic sense. Together, I am positive that we might be able to get you some relief.”
“Really?” Sniffling, Sumac looked up at Princess Celestia while an ember of hope flared to life within his breast.
“I promise… if you promise.”
What else could he do? To be normal again! What he wouldn’t give to have some means of control over this. And all he had to do was keep a secret? “We have a deal. My lips are sealed.”
“And it seems… I have a student…”
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Boomer has a Self Driving Xylophone with an impaired vision system! The Liability Claims will last FOREVER!
Now that line made me think of They Might Be Giants - "The sun is a mass of incandescent gas, a gigantic nuclear furnace..."
Edit... Then I saw they did a follow-up which does actually use the phrase "a miasma of incandescent plasma..."
Wouldn't it be advantageous to get sorcerers immortality, so you can get more than one? It would probably boost the magic multiplier by orders of magnitude.
How lucky for Sumac. Tia will learn as much as she teaches or more. Altogether an intriguing development.
Hmm at that distance it should really make no difference that he is not wearing glasses... That is something that Has always perplexed me... from personal experience at wake up I always had the most vision... and even after removing the glasses I would peak again relatively quickly. On the other hand without glasses I would manage to focus on things WAY closer than other people...
8958938
Sorcerors are extraordinarily potent. Unless one was worthy to ascend in the first place so decreed by Fate, you wouldn't want to make the decision to make one eternal. If one goes off the rails they can be more dangerous than a rogue low-level alicorn newbie. Right now Grogar probably can't come out on top against the Sisters and various other deities of Equestria in a one on one battle. What happens if a sorceror flips his bit and signs up with Grogar instead? How strong would he be then?
Or worse, immortal doesn't mean invincible. A captured sorceror, milked for eons for power, like a living, nigh-infinite battery of supreme arcane might. We don't even know how such a being being around for so long would affect the quality and amount of magic in the world.
Mortality is the ultimate failsafe. If your mortal problem becomes too big to handle somehow... wait it out, rebuild when it dies of old age.
Celestia acquires a new student, who could have seen that coming. Who could have guessed.
8959182
It depends on the kind of vision problem a person has.
8959782
Obviously... but from what I remember Sumac is nearsighted, so things REALLY close should be quite in focus even accounting for glasses adjustment ^^;;
8960348
He's nearsighted from severe astigmatism. That causes light rays entering into the eye to distort and warp. He needs more than just corrective lenses, he needs darkened lenses to ease up on the amount of light entering the eye. So in a well-lit room, his vision will be more than just a little bit fuzzy.
8960348
I am legally blind. As such I know Sumac’s woes and his glasses fear and ugg it sucks when you first wake up.
You learn to navigate your room and night stand by feel cause no amount of squinting in the world wil let you see what’s there.
His glasses issues are one of the things that realy cemented him as one of my favorite OC’s because of how much I could relate.
8960524
I have similar, but different eye problems, so it is easy for me to write Sumac.
I have day blindness and so light in general messes up my vision. Since I know how it feels and what it does, it gives me a means to write realistic scenes with realistic reactions to the problem. At least, I hope.
8960548
Oh wow. I knew night blindness was issue buy Day is a new one for me. Do shaded lenses completely correct it or dose it still limit your vision?
8960604
It helps, but only a little.
My vision improves the darker it gets.
The worst part is that I can see the flicker of fluorescent lights. They flicker like strobe lights and are quite painful. The constant blinky-blinky drives me mad.
Sumac sure had an awful lot of teachers....
8960610
If possible, try to only have lamps around you that run on direct current. I have no idea how you might go about accomplishing this, but it would eliminate the flicker caused by the AC mains power.
8962150
It has been stated a number of times in a number of stories that Sumac was raised by all of Ponyville.
And in Lessons In Darkness, it mentions that Sumac got occasional lessons from Celestia.
8962210
My statement still seems to be true.</snark>
8960610
How do you feel about LEDs? I'm just curious whether their flicker is too subtle for me or if they don't flicker at all.
8962810
I don't notice a flicker. And the pale blue bulbs with soft light don't hurt my eyes as much.
8960610
oh hwaeg haela that does my head in too, bright AND flickery is a match made in hell.